A basic launcher for kodi

Practically every launcher I've tested is broken, and needs too much work to fix, so I've written this very basic launcher.

Example games.json

[
	{
		"id": "106455",
    "title": "Super Mario Galaxy",
    "description": "",
    "icon": "/home/games/thumb/Super Mario Galaxy.jpg",
    "fanart": "/home/games/fanart/Super Mario Galaxy.jpg",
    "poster": "/home/games/thumb/Super Mario Galaxy.jpg",
    "platform": "Wii",
    "genres": ["Action", "Adventure", "Platform"],
    "file": "/home/games/iso/Super Mario Galaxy.iso",
    "launch_command": "~/bin/dolphin-emu-nogui \"{file}\""
	}
]

Using the command line to populate a games.json automatically.

cd /path/to/mygames/
python3 ~/.kodi/addons/plugin.program.basiclauncher/generate_games_json.py

It's not 100% stable yet, but the tool will collect metadata from TheGamesDB.net if available. Using a folder structure you can provide hints e.g. gamecube titles in a gamecube folder, so that the platform will be correctly selected by the search.

TheGamesDB has quite a weak search algorithm, so filenames may not generate good results. This is entirely up to you to fix, YMMV.

emu-wrapper script is included which you link to your home/bin folder using the name of the binary you wish to launch.

ln -s emu-wrapper ~/bin/dolphin-emu-nogui

The emu-wrapper is very likely not going to work for you, unless you happen to have the same wireless remote as me. You'll need to edit the script, and use evtest to identify the input you want to use to exit the emulator.

First, get the evtest event, the user who is running the script will need to be in the input group and the plugdev group.

groupadd input $USER
groupadd plugdev $USER

ls /dev/input/by-id/


evtest /dev/input/by-id/mydevice
# When evtest is running press the button you want to use
# for the exit event.

Edit the top two lines, device and exit_event to reflect your captured values.

device='/dev/input/by-id/usb-4037_2.4G_Composite_Devic-event-if01'
event_exit='*code 158 (KEY_BACK), value 0*'

klattimer/plugin.program.basiclauncher

A basic launcher for kodi